Jim Lane

Does anyone know if the door lock mechanism and the lock motors are still available for our trucks?

Although I am sure there are a lot of generic lock motors that I could make work.

My drivers door is getting hard to unlock.

I have not checked with the dealer yet.

Thanks in advance.

Jim

j_martin

Aren't they just open frame solenoids? Should be able to clean em up and lube them to restore performance.

Universal set of 4
http://www.jcwhitney.com/replacement...erid=c2789u0j1

BTW, what do you know about restoring the action of sticky electric mirrors?

GIT-R-DONE

Jim,
Define "hard to unlock".

I found out that with mine the door latch assembly was worn out. If you look inside the plastic side on the jam of your door, you should be able to see inside there and tell if the linkage is worn causing "hard to unlock" situation.

I had to replace my whole assembly on both doors and then it was back to working as normal. Hope this helps.

Jim Lane

No the door locks are actually a motor driven actuator, it has a rack and pinion setup that drives the control rod up and down, direction is controlled by reversing the polarity for a few seconds.

BTW, what do you know about restoring the action of sticky electric mirrors?

I know you cannot successfully remove the mirror glass but if they are already broken you can get to the internal mechanism to repair then then replace the glass.

The factory glass is secured with several big blobs of silicone and you cannot get to it to release it.

I have some pictures of the inside of the mirror I will find and post.

My Body Shop found a place that has replacement units but they are about $250.00 each.

Jim Lane

When I try to lock or unlock the doors using my alarm they do not pop up all of the way, I pulled out the lock last night and serviced it but I still have the same problem but I am thinking it is more of an electrical problem because after I start the truck for a second they work fine.

Guess I will install a new door lock circuit and take it off the fuse block.
Hmm maybe some more relays..

Ill let you know what I find.

I would like to replace the locks because they are the only thing that keeps the doors from flying open in an accident.

Jim

GIT-R-DONE

Ok, what mine were doing was taking 3-4 times to hit the unlock before they would pop up enough to unlock. Replacing the latch mechanism took care of my problem. Let us kow what you find out.

Jim Lane

So where were you able to find a replacement latch mechanism?

Jim

j_martin

Thanks. I'll start another thread. Put em there.

GIT-R-DONE

A friend of mine had some NOS from a truck he was going to rebuild, but never did. I got lucky finding those. My truck with 400K on it, I was surprised it would even open the door from being wore out sooo much.

I Cant imagine how many times someone has gone in and out of it over the years.

NJTman

FWIW,

I had all the problems that you guys were discussing so far. I fixed them in about 5 minutes.


All I did was opened the door, and removed the "plastic air vent" above the latch mechanism by using a flat screwdriver in the center of the side edge of the louver, and lifted it up. The louver just pops out.

I took a teflon based lubricant, and sprayed every part that I could get the tube down to, multiple times. I lubricated any mechanical springs, and the back of the cylinders as well. I then sprayed lube inside the cylinder from the outside. I hit the lock button up and down a few times, and re-lubricated it again.

My door locks work as they should, and they don't get stuck any longer

339K&Counting

My driver side door is doing the same thing.
Will lock with key but will not unlock.
Repeated attempts - no unlock.
Took latch out - cleaned well and lubed with white grease
Same problem
I have to get in through passenger door if I lock driver door
Does anyone know what latches off other vehicles will fit?
Other years of ram's or dakota's or ??
Cheers

NE frmhnd

My door locks are hit and miss, it's the switch. I was having some issues with my driver's door not unlocking properly with the key. One day I had a can of blaster in my hand and got a brainstorm, shot a bunch into the cylinder and solved that problem.

jimbo486

My driver side has been funky since I got the truck. It locks ok with and without the key. Unlocking is just fine with the switches but when it comes to unlocking it with the key, I have to turn it hard enough to get it to "pop." I don't know if this is a cylinder, linkage or actuator issue. If I want to unlock it from the passenger-side switch, I have to press it multiple times over and over until the actuator pushes the rod up far enough. I've lived with it since I've owned it but it'd really be nice to fix it.

GIT-R-DONE

Jimbo, shove some WD 40 in the key hole and give it a shot. Let me know if that works for ya. If not, read my above post again, thats what helped mine.

NJTman

WD-40 needs to be used with caution


I had several homeowners who used wd on their window frames. The frames, several weeks later still had the wd on them, but also was covered with a layer of dust / dirt, because WD is sticky, and leaves a residue.

From what I've found, I would prefer using a lubricant that doesn't attract dirt.